Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/135

WAY OF MINISTERING TO THE ARMIES. 91 from that block which takes place when a too chap. narrow roadway is choked ; for, compared with '. the means of transhipping them which the able Pn°?heB°o"3- and indefatigable Admiral Boxer could at the ^^'°^'^- instant provide, the freights coming up from the Marmora were overwhelming in quantity. Upon the whole, although England and France, having the absolute command of the sea, had found means to send out their armies to the distant Crimea, and proved able to keep them there planted until they extorted a peace, it still did not turn out to be true that, with all the The flow o? shipping they had, and all the shipping they the seat of lured, they could absolutely and at once throw a once and i-T 1 ^ ■ ^ T • ^ -I f ompletel; faultless bridge over the water which divided effected, them from far distant troops, still less that for vegetables or herds of cattle obtained in the Levant they could find the steam-transport they needed for bringing such supplies into use. No State power, no personal carefulness suf- ficed to ensure a rapid transit of goods from England or Erance to their armies. In October, when the Prince Consort saw that our army was likely to winter on the heights before Sebastopol, he conceived the graceful idea of sending out to his brother officers of the Grenadier Guards a supply of fur coats ; but what happened was that this warm clothing, though promptly de- spatched, did not reach the Grenadiers till the spring of the following year, when already a warmth as of summer had made it almost dis- agreeable to look at such hot things as furs.(^) Eor want of means to land or tranship goods